This doctoral thesis examines the issue of crisis governance of the European Union in the context of migration developments after 2015. The author investigates how relevant EU institutions (European Commission, Council of the EU, and European Council) construct exceptionality within the common asylum and migration policy and what might be its impacts on the functionality of this policy. Theoretically, the research is based on the concept of "state of exception" originally introduced in the works of Carl Schmitt and Giorgio Agamben. The main objective of the thesis is to analyze and interpret the extraordinary migration measures from 2015 to 2018, which were proposed and implemented by the EU political actors to address the migration situation. The institutional level is further broadened and contextualized by including three EU Member State governments - Hungary, Austria, and Germany - and their involvement in the interactive shaping of emergency policies. The author studies how the exception is constructed in the EU official discourse, the relationship between exception and normality, and the exercise of power to create a state of exception at supranational/intergovernmental level of the EU as an international organization. The thesis approaches the topic using critical discourse analysis. It...

This thesis deals with the topic of homegrown Islamist terrorism in the European Union. The target of this research is to provide an interpretation of the homegrown terrorism in the political discourse of the EU as an entity and selected member states - France, the United Kingdom and Slovakia. Building on assumptions of social constructivism and securitisation theory, the thesis explores the patterns in the discourses during the years 2015 - 2018 and seeks to identify potential similarities and differences in the political discourses of respective countries. While studying the changes in the discourse, the thesis analyses how the issue of homegrown terrorism has been securitised, thus how the narratives of political authorities shape perception of the homegrown terrorism as a major threat for Europe. In order to organise the arguments in a more objective manner, the research uses a qualitative method of thematic analysis. Our findings suggest that themes which are of general concern in all the discourses are, among others, prevention of terrorism and radicalisation, the significant role of the internet in spreading Islamist propaganda and the problem of returning foreign fighters However, some themes were identified as state-specific, such as highlighting the homegrown nature of current terrorism...

The relationship between Russia and Norway is one dictated by the asymmetric nature and ideological differences among the two states. Ever since the Cold War, the relationship has been one of cooperation and communication, characterized by Norway's dual policy and constant balancing between assertiveness and reassurance. After the Russian annexation of Crimea, the Norwegian security policy seemingly shifted in an assertive direction. Russia was once again lifted from the politics of normal to the politics of extra through a securitization. This thesis aims to demonstrate how Russia became resecuritized after the Russian annexation of Crimea. The empirical evidence presented in this thesis demonstrates that this assertive shift that came after the resecuritization of Russia is a result of the Russian demonstration of its modernized military, rather than a natural consequence of the hostile act the annexation was. It seeks to demonstrate that the changing security climate with Russia's new ways of war, or so-called hybrid warfare, coupled with a diminishing US interest in the Alliance, is the reason for this change in Norwegian security policy.

The thesis deals with the theme of counter-terrorism legislation in two West European countries, namely in the United Kingdom and in Spain. Specifically I focus on the topic of detention measures (particularly on the specifics of the means of detention of suspects of terrorism) and on the attempts of their toughening in both of the states named above. On the present issue I apply the theory of securitization, through which I examine the debate on toughening the detention measures, which occurred in both of these countries. The text of the thesis comprises of two long historical chapters and a comparative final one. The first two chapters deal with the complicated development of terrorist threats and counter-terrorist reaction with a special focus on detention measures. The main goal is to introduce the extensive matter of counter-terrorist legislation and to integrate the principal topic in a broader context. The final chapter consists of several shorter parts, which allow the comparison of distinct attitudes of both states. After 9/11 both the United Kingdom and Spain chose different strategies how to deal with the threat of terrorism legislatively and how to toughen the measures examined. The main research question is how the securitization of terrorism in the United Kingdom and in Spain differed...

The thesis researches whether in the Visegrad Group there is growing importance and securitization of energy security and military security leading to further cooperation based on recent crises. The thesis also researches whether Russia is perceived as a threat. This is done through content analysis of national security strategies, energy security strategies and military or defence strategies, as well as discourse analysis of official statements presented by ministries and governments of the Visegrad Group states. In the text, also materials published by the Visegrad Group as a whole are analysed. The discourse analysis in case of the states is focused on moments of crises. In energy security field, three crises were chosen: gas crises of 2006 and 2009, as well as oil crisis of 2008. In the chapter about military security, two events were chosen- conflict in Georgia in 2008 and military exercises in 2009. As it is presented, cooperation in energy security is already taking place and cooperation in military affairs in form of battlegroup is planned. Especially in energy security, a link between recent crises, their securitization and cooperation might be seen based on the research.

The master thesis titled Italian Political Discourse and Securitization of Immigration: the Case of the Maghreb revolutions in 2011 deals with the issue of mass immigration waves reaching Italian shores and, in particular, the tiny island of Lampedusa during the initial phase of the so called Arab Spring. Its main goal lies in reconstruction and interpretation of the political discourse led by Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right government presenting the immigration crisis as a serious threat to national and potentially to European security. The first part introduces the general theoretical framework. The securitization theory of the Copenhagen School was used as an instrument for the thesis, including major criticism raised by the authors belonging to the social constructivist approach. In the second part, the author tries to characterize the basic historical and political context and clarifies the specifics of immigration in contemporary Italy. The last segment contains structuralized discourse analysis of the 2011 events and explores the extraordinary measures adopted and implemented in reaction to the government rhetoric at both the national and supranational levels. In this respect, the author pays special attention to how the process of negotiations finally led to the revision of the EU...

Social inequality as a threat - Securitization with reference to Šluknovsko events Bc. Nelly Dederová Master's thesis Social inequality as a threat - Securitization with reference to Šluknovsko events deals with construction of so called "problem" of Šluknov region in connection to Šluknovsko events (two physical clashes in towns Nový Bor and Rumburk which happened in August 2011 and following series of protests, demonstrations and rallies which were lingering in Šluknov region towns until 2012), using theory of securitization made by Barry Buzan, Ole Wæver and Jaap de Wilde, who are representatives of Copenhagen school of security studies. The fact that participants of political and security discourse were referring to Šluknovsko events using securitization language (marking specific referent object as endangered, proposing exceptional measures and demanding their legitimized adoption) represents author's underlying premise.

The master thesis called Security of the Russian Federation: (de)securitization of the U.S. by Russian representatives deals with the security of Russia from the top representatives points of view. The analyzed time is determined by the presidential term of Dmitry Medvedev (2008 - April 2012). The aim of the thesis is to find out, why the U.S. was (de)securitized during the Medvedev's presidential term and confirm or disprove the predefined hypothesis. President, prime minister and minister of foreign affairs create the foreign politics of Russian federation. Their speeches and interviews are the main source of the data. The basic security terms and the theories (de)securitization are discussed in the first part of the thesis. The Russian point of view of security is defined in the following part. There are analyzed oficial documents focusing on definition of the national security, foreign policy and military field. There are also discussed the Russian media discourse since 90s of the 20 century and Russian- American relations. The last empirical part analyzes the interviews and speeches of the president Medvedev, of the prime minister Putin and of the minister of foreign affairs Lavrov in terms of their attitudes to the U.S.

The submitted thesis called "The Relevance of Azerbaijan and Georgia in New Energy Geopolitics" deals with the topic of perception of energy security from the perspective of the European Union with special emphasis put on two southern Caucasian countries - Azerbaijan and Georgia. The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the topic by means of the constructivist approach. The theoretical framework is based on the redefined theory of securitization. The methodological basis is represented by the discursive analysis of the official documents issued by the European Union, embedded in the context of European Neighbourhood Policy and the Eastern Partnership initiative respectively whilst taking into consideration the external influence of the Russian Federation in the time period of approximately ten years, i.e. from 2003, when the European Neighbourhood was established, up to the present. The main objective of the submitted thesis is to assess the perception of energy security from the point of view of the European Union and to identify key contextual links and discursive themes that dominated the political discourse of the European Union in particular moments of the respective period.

Nuclear weapons remains in the security discourse of the United States for over 70 years. The threat of nuclear weapons changed its content several times since then. Our study examines how the nuclear threat was socially constructed and how different actors securitized the threat and to which purpose. Our Diploma thesis uses methodological framework of discourse analysis. We examine the political and social nuclear discourse in the U.S. along two levels of analysis: governmental level and nuclear disarmament level. The diploma thesis researches multiple governmental and societal sources in order to determine how different types of nuclear threat emerged within the discourse.